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Speech at EKN 25-years jubilee reception in the Royal Library, September 2011
1. Introduction 2. Achievements 3. The darker strands 4. End
Dear Erland, dear friends and colleagues.
1. Introduction
A happy circumstance has made it possible to celebrate Erland’s 25 year jubilee as Director General of the Royal Library together with the group of people from abroad that he would most want to be present, his colleagues from the national libraries in Europe. We are glad that you are with us today, and we congratulate you with your own jubilee, of course.
2. Achievements
It is difficult to say which of Erland’s achievements are the most important. My personal favourite is the Black Diamond.
Who would have believed it possible to persuade the authorities to make so large an investment in a new Royal Library? But they did it.
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He was lucky, Erland, that the state was right then initiating a public building program in order to stimulate the economy. Moreover, a year was approaching when Copenhagen would be the European City of Culture. Such a fortuitous combination of circumstances I call: luck.
But luck in no way diminishes the achievement. For all great careers must be blessed by fortune. AND as a truly lucky person Erland was quite prepared for the vagaries of fortune, as Macchiavelli recommends in The Prince. So when the cultural institutions were asked for their proposals in the context mentioned, Erland was quite ready with his plans for a new Royal Library – to the
astonishment of the people at the Ministry.
And when later Mrs. Hilden coined the name The Black Diamond for the new building, a powerful Danish cultural icon had been created.
The result was this magnificent home for the great text and music of the Danish people.
But today, as we all know, physical homes are not enough. The future text is digital.
The British Library in its Vision for 2020 estimates that by that year 75% of all books will appear either in digital format alone or both in digital and print format.
And already now they think that the development will be even more rapid.
So, what does a visionary national library director do? He starts building a second home, a digital home, for the Danish national literature. At great odds, it must be said. Public funding is quite spare, and the great Google-solution has not yet materialized.
Instead, the Royal Library has joined forces with the firm, Proquest, to
systematically digitize the Danish national literature from the beginning. This project has given birth to the venture called Early European Books. It is a twin project of that other venture, Early English Books, and its second phase comprises national libraries in Florence and Holland. We wish it all luck and we are proud to be part of it.
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The project of systematic digitization of Danish national literature from the beginning will shortly be supplemented by a program of on-demand digitization of individual works of older Danish literature, supported by the Ministry of Culture.
So another home for the Danish national literature and music is being built these years. Whereas the first home, The Black Diamond, is highly visible, this second, digital home is quite invisible. But it is just as important.
Erland does not believe – or rather accept - that things are impossible, and
thereby he makes them possible. There are disappointments, of course, he is not after all a maker of miracles, but the list of achievements is impressive.
Apart from The Black Diamond and the digitization projects may be mentioned:
Reorganizing the Royal Library and bringing it into the computer age
Reprofiling the Royal Library as an important national institution of culture and developing a comprehensive program of cultural activities
Obtaining permanent funding of the preservation of the Danish cultural heritage
Merging with the University Library and the Danish Folklore Archives
Reshaping the relationship with the University of Copenhagen and its library services
Being president of the European library association, Liber, and active in international library cooperation
Solving the mystery of the Great Booktheft!
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And recently: organizing together with the Swedish national librarian, Mr.
Gunnar Sahlin, an exchange arrangement for two important national literary treasures. We were quite proud of you, there, Erland!
There are other achievements, of course, but this list will suffice to give an impression of what has been done during Erland’s tenure at the Royal Library.
3. The darker strands
Dear friends from abroad: we Danes always mix reverence with irreverence so that the Gods shall not become envious of the object of praise.
So, we shall now for a moment look not at the golden threads in the tapestry, but at some of the darker strands in the texture of Erland’s leadership. They do not make the golden ones grow dim, but they do give the texture some of its
structure and definition.
Your sensitivity, dear Erland, is not always acute, and though you are capable of great diplomacy it is not because of your particularly delicate touch: rather your approach to difficult issues is one a great, sometimes even – how shall I put it - forceful directness.
Under the momentary influence of strong, rightful indignation you are prone to propose highly dramatic – and sometimes entertaining - measures which your management group can only with some difficulty persuade you to - at least … - postpone just a little …!
You are a natural fighter, and there is no doubt that you actually enjoy being in the middle of some controversy or even battle.
You have your delightful foibles, too.
In the afternoon at two o’clock your mind seems to drift into a state of deep concentration, as you say. People who know how late you work at night
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mistakenly believe that you are simply sleepy. Whatever the reason, it is greatly tempting to have decisions made during these your periods of special
concentration, but fortunately – or unfortunately – they end suddenly and you regain full alertness in a second, never having missed a beat.
You are also a passionate keeper of exotic birds. At one time you even – for some practical reason, you claimed – brought a small, but vigorous bantam cock to a meeting of the directors of the major Danish research libraries. First, we thought it was somehow cute that this big man should be looking so lovingly and
expectantly at the little cock, but we soon understood the reason, for it turned out that every time Erland opened his mouth the cock began to crow. And as Erland spoke quite often – you know him, the meeting eventually broke up in hilarious chaos. It was really unforgettable. Afterwards, we were hotly discussing between us whether it was all an amusing coincidence, or whether Erland had actually taught the bird to crow when he spoke.
4. End
Dear Erland, your achievements may have been blessed by fortune, but mostly they build on great intelligence, hard work, amazing skills of maneuvering, and honest devotion to the cause.
It is completely justified that your stewardship of the Royal Library shall pass into our history as one of the great ones.
The second nature of the library and one of the great loves of your own life is music. It is therefore quite natural that we should express our sentiments in song, and since our own poetic gifts may not give justice to the subject matter, we have chosen a worthy text and music from the proud cultural heritage of Europe. It concerns the captain of a ship who commands a right good crew, who is never known to quail at the fury of gale, and who’s never, never sick at sea.
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CAPT. I am the Captain of the Pinafore;
ALL. And a right good captain, too!
CAPT. You're very, very good, And be it understood,
I command a right good crew, ALL. We're very, very good,
And be it understood,
He commands a right good crew.
CAPT. Though related to a peer, I can hand, reef, and steer, And ship a selvagee;
I am never known to quail At the fury of a gale,
And I'm never, never sick at sea!
ALL. What, never?
CAPT. No, never!
ALL. What, never?
CAPT. Hardly ever!
ALL. He's hardly ever sick at sea!
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more, For the hardy Captain of the Pinafore!
So, dear friends and colleagues, please join me in three short and one long HURRA for Erland, who commands a right good crew, and who never quails at the fury of a gale:
Hip, hip …
